


No good verdicts

by Melime



Category: Law & Order
Genre: Aftermath of a Case, Canon-Typical Violence, Drinking & Talking, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Serious Injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:40:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28492536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melime/pseuds/Melime
Summary: After a deadlocked jury, Ben and Shambala share drinks, trying to make sense of the verdict in a brutal case with muddied lines, as the defendant couldn't be more sympathetic and the victim couldn't be more deserving of his fate.
Relationships: Shambala Green & Ben Stone
Collections: Small Fandoms Fest





	No good verdicts

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Português brasileiro available: [Nenhum bom veredicto](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28492548) by [Melime GreenLeaf (Melime)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melime/pseuds/Melime%20GreenLeaf)



> Written for the small fandom fest community, for missanotherboat's prompt: "Law & Order - Ben & Shambala - post-court drinks".
> 
> Warning for the case being discussed, references to: death of OC children, burn scars, amputation, domestic violence, murder, and the possibility of a suicide attempt. This took a surprisingly dark turn but I would say that's on brand with some of the cases on the show.

Ben sat by the bar counter, alone. “Whiskey, on the rocks,” he asked the barman. If there was ever a day to wallow, it was just after losing a murder trial.

He swiveled the cup, focusing on the waves and the soothing impact of the ice against the glass, pondering on what got him there.

There was something he learned in his years as a prosecutor: some cases didn't have a good solution. Sometimes there was just what he could live with, even if that meant a lot of sleepless nights.

He was just faced with one such case and refused to plead out of principle, thinking the eight to fifteen asked were too lenient. Now he had the dubious privilege of either having allowed a cold blooded murderer to walk away freely, at least temporarily, or contributed so justice would be done outside the confines of the law. He wasn’t a big believer in the second hypothesis, so this would be another case for his conscience, one of the few murderers he failed to put away.

At least he could rest easy knowing that Penelope Caplan didn’t pose a danger to society. It was unlikely that she would ever kill again, even if her release sent a terrible message. He hoped her case wouldn’t inspire the next mother taken by grief to take justice on her own hands.

If it were up to him, she would be retried, but he had a higher authority to respond to, and Adam believed that the result would continue being the same. He tried pleading after the mistrial, but that was a position of weakness. If not for Adam’s insistence, he wouldn’t have pleaded the case at all, but at times he had to follow orders he disagreed with.

“Cheer up, Ben. You know she didn’t deserve twenty-five to life,” Shambala said, sitting on the stool next to him. She signed the barman for another whiskey.

“I’m not unsympathetic, which is why I offered fifteen.”

“For a grieving mother?” Shambala laughed. “No wonder you couldn’t reach the jury.”

“It was premeditated murder. You know it, I know it. I don’t care which story she told on the stand, she went to that apartment having already formed an intention to kill him.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know that, and you can’t know that. Do you really think I would suborn perjury?”

“A lawyer’s answer. So you believe her? It was all a coincidence? She just went to confront a convicted murderer unarmed?”

“Maybe she did. Three children dead because she failed to protect them, Ben. We can’t know what was going through her head.”

“If he had been acquitted I might agree with you, but Tuttle was convicted. I don’t agree his bail should have been extended pending appeal, but that’s hardly evading justice.”

“If he had been acquitted, I would have gotten a not guilty verdict, not a hung jury.”

The worst part was, he knew she was right. The moment Penelope took the stand, she had the hearts of the jurors. That he recovered the minds of even one of them was proof that there was still hope for the system.

“There has to be a limit. People can’t just hunt down other people and shoot them seeking revenge.”

“They were his children too, and he killed them. He tried to kill her. She tried to do things the right way, she divorced him, changed her name, moved away, tried to hide. He still found her and took everything from her. And everytime she looks at the mirror she’ll remember what he did. Can you really blame her for acting irrationally?”

He took a sip of his whiskey, covering for his lack of an answer. “A jury of her peers couldn’t, I suppose that’s all that matters.”

She laughed. “Now who’s talking like a lawyer.”

“They voted with their hearts, not the law. They hated the victim and pitied the murderer, but even unpopular victims deserve justice.”

“You have it backwards. He was the murderer and she was the victim. How could you look at her face and think otherwise? What surprises me is that someone voted to convict after hearing how she lost her arm trying to pull her baby from the fire. You saw the hospital pictures, she was burnt almost to the bone and the firefighters still had to drag her out of there.”

“And he should have served life in prison for that. I feel for her, but she doesn’t have the right to take revenge.”

“Eleven jurors thought she did.”

“They couldn’t even look at her, they felt guilty.”

“Are you sure you’re not projecting? You barely made any eye contact with her, and I wouldn’t have expected you to agree to eight years probation.”

“You know there would be no new trial, and even if there was, I doubt I could win it.”

“You’re right, and if I hadn’t ran out of peremptory challenges, she would have been acquitted this time. The first alternate was a firefighter widow.”

“Then why even take a plea?”

“Peace of mind. There’s no statute of limitation on murder, so that would always hang over her head. And she did feel guilty, not for killing him, for not stopping him.”

He took another sip of his drink. Perhaps this really was the only solution he could live with. A verdict of not guilty would have denied reality, but a sentence of life in prison wouldn’t have been just either. Her revenge wasn’t justified, but it was as close as it could get to it. And whatever sentence she received couldn’t be a greater punishment than what Tuttle did to her.

“If that’s the case, I can’t help but wonder if she was telling the truth. Maybe she didn’t go to that apartment to kill Tuttle. Maybe she went there hoping he would kill her.”

“I don’t think even she knows the answer to that.”

He finished his drink. “Then we never will.”


End file.
